The Bravest Little Girl in the Universe
by ArtistsChild93
Summary: After the only sucessful kidnapping of Opie skywalker, age 4, her father, Luke, goes to rescue her. Disaster strikes and although he manages to protect his Little Gem. Severely injured, Luke Skywalker faces a painful journey back to full health. Please reveiw!
1. A Father's Protection

"If you do not turn, Skywalker," the clone said, "I will make you precious little daughter suffer."

A fire was lit in his cold blue eyes, "You won't dare touch her," his normally soft voice coming out in a snarl.

This sudden anger from her father frightened the poor girl and she began to cry. His gaze softened a little when he saw his little girl- his little gem so frightened by his own anger. He sank to the ground.

"Please," he begged hoarsely, "please don't hurt her, let her go, I'm the one you want." He bowed his head, willing to accept defeat.

"No, Daddy," the little voice called, "I be brave for you."

He couldn't turn to that, not even to save his little girl. Luke could see it now, his own daughter, much older, with the same cold fire in her eyes.

"_You killed my father," the voice said, full of hatred and pain, "my mother told me you murdered my father."_

"_No, Opie, I am your father," it was his own voice, older, hard and cruel._

_A look of horror and pain crossed the girl's face, "That's not true! That's impossible!"_

"NO!" the vision was broken. He was on his knees, head bowed in pain, tears streaking down his face. It was just like Bespin- just like it. He knew if he did not turn , she would be tortured, but if he did, matters woud be worse. _Be brave, Little Gem._

Then he stood up, and as he did, he realized the small girl was gone. She had escaped! "I will not turn," he said, "Not even for Opie, but please, I beg of you, take me instead."

"No, Skywalker, perhaps if you will not turn," the voice cackled, "your little brat will." He turned, but was surprised to find that his prisoner had escaped, he glared at his young adversary, "Where did she go? Tell me, young Skywalker."

Luke looked defiantly at the Emporer-Clone, "That won't work on me, I'll never tell you where she is ." Menwhile he called out to his little daughter: _Opie, wherever you are, stay hidden._

A scream exploded in between their bond: _PAPA HELP ME!"_

He turned and saw his girl writhing in pain under the monster's force lightning, her screams piercing his heart, "NO!" he cried and shielded her with his own body. He felt the excruciating pain come crashing over him, he twisted and jerked, emitting horrible agonized screams. Then suddenly the pain was gone, and blackness swallowed him up.


	2. Rescue on the Way

The little girl was on her feet, still clutching her father's lightsaber. The shock of what had happened was just beginning to set in. When her father had protected her, his lightsaber had come loose from the clip on his belt. Opie had grabbed it and swung it as hard as she could, cutting the hidious clone in half.

She dropped the weapon, and stared at her trembling hands. Then she rushed to her father's side. "Daddy? Daddy wake up!" he made no response whatsoever. She crawled under his arm and buried herself against his chest, putting her ear against his heart, which was still beating faintly. Then she fell asleep.

Meanwhile, on the Falcon, Ivy was getting no response from her husband. She spoke into the com again, "Luke? Luke can you hear me?" She hadn't gotten a response in nearly three hours. Suddenly she heard a small scared voice, "Daddy's hurt mama, I did something very bad."

"It's okay, Honey, we'll get you," she reassured, "Tell me about Daddy, is he breathing?"

Her reply came shakily, "Y-yes but he's breathing funny, I'm scared, Mommy."

She asked quietly, "Where are you, Opie?"

"I-I don't know, Mommy," she said, obviously scared, "I was asleep, the bad man made me fall asleep. I'm underground I think."

Ivy asked, "Is Daddy awake?"

"No," she replied, sounding on the verge of tears, "I tried and tried."

"Let mommy try and wake him up," Ivy said. She knew Luke would be the only one who would know how to get to them. She concentrated hard, searching for his force signature. It was still strong, even though he was badly injured. _Luke, I need you to wake up for me._

He slowly responded, _Ivy, please help I'm too hurt to get up._

Horrific pain radiated through the connection, _Can you help us find our way to you?_

_Yes, but I don't know how long I can stay awake, I'm hurt bad, Love, _came his response,_ go north from the Falcon's entrance. There's a small crawl space, go into it. It twists and turns, but there is only one way. At the bottom there's a large cave, we're at the far end of it._

His responses seemed to come through clenched teeth, _Please, Luke, try to stay awake. And try to calm Opie down she's scared. I talked to her on the com._

_I'll try,_ he responded. Then he opened his eyes with an effort, "Opie," he rasped, "are you okay?"

"Daddy!" the four year old cried, hugging him a little too tightly.

He cried out in agony. Then through clenched teeth he said, "Opie, I'm really badly hurt, you can't hug me like that."

"I sorry, Daddy." She said, with concern in her eyes.

Suddenly he saw again a vision of the older Opie with the same look in her eyes. She was wearing a brown cloak and a dirty white jacket very similar to the one he had worn at Bespin. Her voice came, deeper with a manner of speaking similar to his own. He couldn't quite make out what she was saying. He didn't even realize he had slipped into unconsciousness again.


	3. Saving a Hero

"Han, we need the stretcher," Ivy said, "Luke's really badly hurt and he says he can't get up."

"Shure thing, Thorney," he called, using an old nickname he had come up with years ago while on the first Death Star, "Hey Chewie, get the stretcher and everything that goes with it!"

The wookiee growled a response, appearing a few moments later with the requested items.

Leia asked, "So what's the plan?"

"It sounds like whatever was holding them both captive is dead," she said, "So I say we just go down there and get them out. Luke told me how to get there; we might want to also bring some rope."

"Good plan," Solo smirked.

It took an hour to get to the bottom of the tunnel, going as carefully as they could. When they got to the bottom, they saw a frightening scene. Luke Skywalker was sprawled on the ground not moving. Underneath his arm, Opie had huddled for protection, and beside them, the corpse of Palpatine's clone sliced cleanly in half.

"LUKE!" Ivy and Leia both rushed to their injured companion's side. They both quickly realized he was breathing. One of the strands of his now long blonde hair was dangling in front of his nose, which stirred with each breath he took. It was normally tied back, since it came around his shoulders, but now it had come loose and was draped across his face.

Ivy reached out and caressed his cheek. The 28 year old Jedi stirred and groaned in his half-conscious state, "Check on Opie," she said to her sister in law.

Leia patted the little girl's cheek gently, "Opie, I need you to wake up for me."

"Auntie Leia?" The small child threw her arms around her, "I wanna go home."

"Don't worry, we'll be home soon," she said, taking the little girl in her arms.

"Is Daddy gonna be okay, Mama?"

Ivy replied, "He'll be okay."

Skywalker moaned in pain and began to stir. His eyes opened slowly, "Please make it stop!" he whimpered, in excruciating pain.

She bent over and kissed him gently, "It's okay, Love, it's almost over." She turned to Solo and Chewie, "Okay guys, I need you to get him on the stretcher we'll probably have to carry him out on Chewie's back. You brought the harness right?"

"Sure thing!" Han said, bringing out the supplies. They quickly had the equipment assembled next to the injured Jedi knight.

Ivy questioned her husband, "Luke, is anything broken?"

"No, I don't think so," he whispered, seeming weaker by the minute, "I can't tell."

"Be careful with him," she said, "He may have worse injuries."

It took them several minutes to get him on the stretcher and strap him down, but by that time he had slipped away again. Going back took them well over twice as much time as the last trip had taken, with Luke being carried on Chewie's back. But at last they were up.

They unharnessed the wookiee and carried Skywalker the rest of the way to the ship. It broke Ivy's heart, hearing him in such pain. He seemed to feel every movement, every bump, and every jostle. But at last they were safe on board the Falcon.


	4. Nearly There

They laid him on one of the sleep couches on the Falcon and had put an oxygen mask on. It was heartbreaking, hearing him wheezing, fighting for every breath. But there was not much they could do for him until they got him to a medicenter.

Ivy stroked his forehead, brushing his hair back from his face. Then she placed a kiss on his forehead.

He groaned, starting to come round again. He was in severe pain. The torture had done its worst to him. Luke cried out, his eyes fluttered open.

Ivy ran her fingers across his cheek, "Hey, Love, how ya feeling?"

"Awful," he moaned. It was a discouraging answer. Usually Luke would answer that question when hurt with 'I've been better,' or 'I've seen better days.' This had to be unbearable for him. He hadn't responded like that since Bespin.

She wished she could take the pain away. She truly hated seeing her husband in such distress. "Don't worry, we'll get you better," she reassured.

"Ivy is Opie okay?" he asked, "She got attacked too."

"She's fine," Ivy said, "I think she's just shaken, but I'll go check and make sure she's okay."

A few moments later, Ivy walked into the cockpit to find Opie sitting on Han's lap. "Now kiddo," he said, "Which button do I push again?"

The little hand reached out, touching a switch, "This one!"

"Hmm, let's try it and find out," Han said. He flicked the switch and the thrusters came to life, "Good job Opie!"

Ivy smiled. "Uncle Han" had had a soft spot for Opie from the moment she was born; he and Leia often babysat her when her parents had gone on important missions. "She has the makings of a good pilot."

"Mama!" the girl ran to her mother, who scooped her up in her arms.

Solo chuckled, "Yeah just like her dad. Speaking of which, how's The Kid doin?"

"The same," Ivy said, "He's conscious now though. I was just checking on Opie to make sure she was okay."

The little girl replied, "I'm okay Mama, can I see Daddy now?"

"Alright, but his hurt," her mother said, "so you can't just run up and hug him, but I think he'll want to see you to make sure you're okay."

She carried her daughter into the room and put her down. She ran to her father's side. He turned his head and smiled underneath the oxygen mask.

"Daddy? Mama says you're hurt real bad." Opie said seriously, resting her tiny hand on her father's much larger one.

He whispered hoarsely, "I'll be okay, Little Gem." He reached up and caressed her face. In truth, the sith lightning had entirely sapped his strength, even stroking his own daughter's face took an extraordinary effort. He didn't even have the strength to put himself into a healing trance.

"Do you need anything, Love?" Ivy asked him.

"Water," he said feebly.

Ivy went to go get him a drink, brushing her hand across his cheek before she left. Opie dragged the chair next to the bedside closer and climbed up on it. She took his hand and held it in between hers, "Daddy, thanks for saving me from the bad man."

Luke smiled again, "I'm your daddy, I'm supposed to protect you."

Ivy re-entered the room, carrying a cup of water, "I just talked to Leia, she says we should be to the hospital in about an hour."

Skywalker managed a nod. The she gently lifted him halfway up so that he was resting on her shoulder and gently removed the oxygen mask. Sweat was pouring down his face and his teeth where clenched, then he went limp as the pain caused him to pass out again.

When he woke up again, he was still resting against his wife's shoulder, but he found that Opie was also curled up against him, "How long have I been out?" he asked.

"Almost an hour, we should be landing on Corusant in a few minutes," she said, picking up the cup and brought it to his lips. He drank it down thirstily. Ivy had decided to leave the mask off after he had passed out because he had been breathing much better.

Solo entered, "Hey, I just spoke to the medicenter; we should be there in a couple of minutes." Then he saw that Luke was awake, "Hey kid, ya feelin any better?"

"A little." Luke murmured drowsily, obviously exhauseted.

"Good to hear, Kid, now try and go to sleep. You Look done in." Han replied.

His lids where half-closed, "I feel done in." They drooped a little more and his body relaxed as he fell into a deep sleep


	5. Floating

He was floating. There was no pain, no feeling at all. Luke vaguely wondered where he was, and why he was floating. He tried to move, but his limbs felt heavy, tried to open his eyes. They wouldn't. He let his mind drift, allowing it to relax until he could finally come round.

Ivy walked up to the doctor overseeing the surgery, "How is he, Doctor?"

"He'll be fine." He said, "He should be coming around in a few minutes."

"And the scarring?" she asked him.

He gave a positive response, "Minimalized, your husband will have some, but we also replaced his prosthetic, it was pretty badly damaged."

"Thank you so much for patching him up, Doc." She smiled, "He was in so much pain when we got here."

"He still may be a little sore," he said, "But the pain will be considerably lessoned. I should say he will be able to go home in a couple days in fact."

Ivy smiled tiredly. She had been up all night holding his hand as they prepared him for surgery. "Opie will be glad to hear it, she misses her daddy."

"Do you want to see him, he should be waking up very soon." The doctor said.

"Yes, I would like that very much." She entered the recovery bay and made her way to Luke's bedside and took his hand. It wasn't as soft as it once had been. She remembered the first time she'd held his hand, it hadn't been so callused and the muscles hadn't been nearly as developed. But it was just as warm as it had been on that day, just as warm.

She saw his eyebrows knit together and he stirred slightly. His eyes opened slowly. Luke smiled, "Hey, babe."

She kissed him. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah, much," he breathed. She felt him gently squeeze her hand. He smiled.

His wife smiled back, "Opie will be glad to see her daddy again."

"Where is she?" he asked, looking around.

"She's at your sister's," Ivy said, "It's pretty late."

His lids began to droop again, "Oh."

She stroked his forehead, "You get some sleep you did just come out of surgery."

"For what?" he said waking up slightly.

Ivy took his artificial hand and looked at it, "They had to replace you r prosthetic hand, the force lightning damaged it beyond repair."

His lids had closed again. She ran her fingers through his hair.

"Never mind, darling," she smiled, "I can see you're tired. I'm tired too." She sat down in the chair next to his bed and fell into a deep sleep.


	6. Big Sister

She woke up to a hand gently brushing her face, "hey babe." His voice said quietly.

"Feeling better?" she asked, feeling as though she'd said it a million times.

He grinned, "Yeah, infinitely," he said, flexing the muscles in his arm, "a little sore though."

Ivy patted his shoulder, "That's great!" she exclaimed, "I just talked to Leia; they should be here soon with Opie and the twins."

His grin grew broader, "Little Gem."

"And there's more good news," she said leaning over him and whispered in his ear, "I'm pregnant."

"What?" he said stunned, "But they said we couldn't!"

"Well doctors can't be right all the time can they?" she smiled, patting her belly. Luke reached out and laid his hand on her stomach.

"Opie'll be so excited!" he grinned, "Should we tell her when she gets here?"

Ivy bent over and kissed him, "I think we should."

There was a commotion outside the door and their daughter came dashing through, "Daddy!" she sprang up on the bed, accidentally landing on her father's stomach. He grunted in pain.

"How ya doin' Little Gem?" he asked, eyes still watering.

She grinned, big blue eyes sparkling, "I doin' okay, Daddy. How you doin'?"

"Okay till you sat on me," he chuckled, "Where you good for Uncle Han and Auntie Leia?"

She nodded her head.

"We have a surprise for you when they get in." her mother smiled, "Why don't you tell them to hurry up and get their butts in here with Jaina and Jacen so we can tell you your surprise."

She sprang from the bed, once again stepping on her father's stomach, causing him to double over. They heard her yelling behind the door "GET YOUR BUTTS IN HERE SO MOMMY AND DADDY CAN GIVE ME MY SURPRISE!"

Ivy was helpless with laughter, but she managed to ask her husband, "You okay?"

"Yeah fine," he grunted, "could be worse."

She grinned, "I agree."

Solo and his wife entered with their five year old twins and Opie, "So what's this surprise your kiddo's hollerin about?"

Ivy placed her hand on Luke's, "Opie, you're going to be a big sister."

"WHAT?!" she hollered, "HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!"

Leia muttered out of the corner of her mouth, "Leave it to Opie to shoot her mouth off."

Solo chuckled, "Hon, did you forget who her dad is?"

"Congratulations, Luke," Leia said, "I'm so happy for you."

Han grinned his trademark crooked smile, "Yeah, Kid, knew you had another one in ya." He said ruffling his hair.

"Han!" he said blushing, "not in front of the four year old!"

Suddenly Opie, with a thoughtful tugged on her father's sleeve, "Hey daddy?"

"What is it, sweetie?" he asked.

"Where _do_ babies come from?" Both parents couldn't have turned redder.


	7. The Nightmare

That night, the nightmare started again. The pain, it couldn't be true, no it couldn't.

He woke up screaming and sweat soaked. Someone was standing over him; he pulled away, "No!"

"Luke, Luke! It's me!" a slender hand reached out and touched his face. "It's Ivy, Baby, it's okay."

Slowly, his memory returned after the nightmare-induced amnesia. That had happened six years ago, he was a father of a four year old now. With another one on the way, "I'm okay, Love, just a bad dream."

Ivy hugged him tightly, "I know. I wish those awful memories still didn't visit you though."

"I wish they didn't either," he shuddered, "but I haven't had that dream in years, it stopped soon after Opie was born."

"I suppose it'll come back sometimes." She sighed, "It was horrific, I guess the good ones don't stop and pay visits very often."

A sad smile appeared on his face, "No, I suppose not."

"Get some sleep, dear," she said, brushing the hair away from his forehead, "you don't wanna look too tired when we go home after all."

"No," he said with a yawn.

The two of them both fell asleep soon after, and the nightmare didn't come to visit again that night.


	8. Homeward

**Okay, Folks, the end is drawing near, I'm sorry to say. This is actually going to be the first story I've completed… wow! Don't worry though I'll be working on the others, I just tend to get writers block sometimes (curse it!). I hope you have enjoyed this, I'll have the last chapter to this uploaded very soon!**

The next morning, Luke was finally able to come home from the hospital. He was still a little bit sore from the attack, but much better after being bedridden for a week. He stood up and stretched his stiff muscles and yawned. Skywalker hadn't gotten much sleep after the nightmare.

Ivy ran her fingers along his neck where the shoulder met it, "You know," she said, "that hospital gown doesn't really suit you."

He smirked, "Yeah? What would?"

"Mmmh, I don't know," she said nuzzling up against him.

He smiled, "I missed this."

"I know," she said, kissing him softly, "I did too."

A clatter from outside alerted the pair, and Luke's spitting image came dashing through the door, "Daddy!"

Luke scooped the child up in his arms, "Hey, Little Gem! I missed you!"

"I missed you too, Daddy," Opie snuggled closer to him and closed her eyes, then suddenly she remembered something. Her pale blue eyes lit up, "Guess what Daddy?"

"What?" he said pinching the small girl's freckled nose, she giggled.

She started wiggling a loose tooth, "Look,"

"Oh! Your tooth's loose," her father smiled.

She looked at him seriously, "Is the toof fairy gonna come for my toof?"

He shook his head. Even at this stage, Skywalker would-could never lie to his child. "No, she's not real, I'm afraid."

Opie looked stunned, "But-but Alice said-"

"I know," Luke said quietly, "I know, a lot of people your age don't realize what's real and what's not"

"But what if I wanna belive in her?" she asked cocking her head to the side.

Luke smiled quietly, "Then you can belive whatever you want." He said, tickling the little girl.

She laughed and squirmed in her father's strong arms. To think that six years ago, he had only just learned about his own father.

**So about the whole tooth fairy thing… I cannot imagine Luke lying to his child about something like that after what happened to him. It just made sense. And if you've read this and noticed a change, I didn't care for the original ending I had to this story, so I changed it.**


	9. Nine Months Later

Nine Months Later

"Uncle Han?" Solo felt someone tugging at his pants leg.

He knelt down to the small child's level, "yeah, Scout?"

"Where did Mommy and daddy go?" the now five year old asked, head cocked on one side, like her father always used to do.

"They went to the hospital to get your new baby brother or sister."

The little one yawned and rubbed at one of her big blue eyes, "Do they get to-to pick which one they get to choose?"

Solo chuckled at the innocent question, "No, they have to wait for it to come."

"Oh," she yawned again. It was getting late, "Cuz I wanna baby brovver." He felt the pint-sized Skywalker sag in his arms, clearly asleep.

There was silence in the hospital room, Ivy starling was, once again, exhausted after giving birth to their second child.

The medical droid reassured both parents' concerns, "Your child is perfectly healthy," he got out before they could even ask what was wrong; "All of his vital signs are steady."

"It's a boy?" Luke asked, "Why isn't he crying?"

"I cannot be sure, sir," the droid said, "but it appears that your son has been born mute, I will have to investigate further to find out what is causing this."

"Can we hold him?" Ivy asked.

"But of course, Ma'am." The droid placed the child into his mother's arms.

The baby looked up at his mother and yawned sleepily, "Isn't he precious, Luke?"

"Of course he is." The Jedi smiled, "he's our son."

She looked down lovingly at the new little bundle that they had been given, "Ben."

Luke raised an eyebrow, "What about him?"

"That's his name," she said, "I've already decided, and I know you wanted to name our baby Ben if it was a boy, after your old master."

He nodded in agreement, "Ben, I like that."

"Do you wanna hold him, dear?" she asked.

"Of course I do!" Skywalker bent over and gently picked the newborn up. Ivy remembered the first time he had nearly dropped Opie he had been so nervous.

Ivy smiled at her husband, holding their infant son, a soft smile on his face. She had known for a long time before even Opie that he would make an excellent father. It was strange how right she was, he was more than just an excellent father, he was a fantastic one, who would go above and beyond the call of duty to protect his kids. Case and point the events that had happened several months ago when he had spent a week in the hospital after saving their daughter from a force lightning attack.

All that remained of his encounter with the emperor clone where a few scars. Ivy didn't mind at all, Luke just wouldn't be the same without his scars. Maybe he'd be a little less serious, but on the flip side, those scars where a narrative of his journey (however rough) from boy to man. Besides, Ivy mused, she loved his scars.

THE END

**Hey, sorry this last story is a little late in coming. My internet broke at my dorm so I can only use internet at my school in my free time. Yeah, we need like a whole entire new internet box. I will be posting when I can. Right now I'm working on a REALLY big story which I should have up very soon. I also will be working on the others. After Endor also just has a few more chapters to go. Thank you for your continued support.**


End file.
